These three keywords describe our ice cream. We simply prepare it with milk, cream and sugars. Using only the products that nature offers us, we carefully choose from among the best on the market.
Cremeria Opera in Dubai wants to promote the Italian tradition of gelato (ice-cream), coffee, pastry and cakes prepared with the best raw materials from the Middle East and around the world.
We prefer producers who safeguard the land using artisanal preparations that preserve the quality of raw materials to enhance their taste. Additives or colourings are not used in any of our products.
In addition to homemade gelato, customers will be able to enjoy crepes, waffles and cakes along with a tasty cappuccino. Our key ingredients of fruit, milk and eggs arrive fresh every week into our kitchen.
Our philosophy is that all our products are simple, natural and without compromise.
You will receive a warm welcome at the Cremeria Opera in Damac Maison Canal View in Business Bay, which is a few minutes from Downtown with free valet parking in the tower.
We also offer delivery of our products.
Our crepes are gluten free and vegan, made with spelt flour. You can choose between savoury or sweet crepes. However chocolate crepes are the perfect way to satisfy your sweet craving.
Famous in the US but created in Europe. Typically a sweet dish that can be served with chocolate, gelato, strawberry, pistachio or with any of our natural toppings.
Cremeria Opera is an Italian project started in 2010 from an intuitive idea of the founders: Mirko Tognetti (our gelato maker), his wife Elisa and his sister Monica.
After a period of training around Italy, useful for gaining experience from the country’s leading ice cream masters, the first shop was opened in Tuscany (Lucca) in 2013. The goal is immediately clear: to be able to offer high-quality natural ice cream, which makes the craftsmanship of the processes and the careful selection of raw materials its strengths. At first the product was greeted with reticence because Opera gelato, low in fat and low in sugar, has a different taste from the norm.
However, a few weeks were enough to create a passionate and growing clientele, thanks to the high digestibility of Cremeria Opera gelato, a winning factor together with the taste and the different combinations that are offered every week. The first unconventional experiment is the “Olive Oil Gelato”: proposed as part of the “Extra Lucca” event, it was tasted and greatly appreciated by Annie Féolde, the first female chef to have obtained three Michelin stars in Italy.
Within a few days, the Cremeria Opera project made the rounds of the main national and international media, from “L’Espresso” to the “New York Times”.
It was the start of a success story. A crowd of onlookers gathered outside the shop, which soon turned into loyal customers. This was enough to understand that the path taken was the right one and to continue experimenting.
This is how new and never banal flavours are born – from bruschetta ice cream to Tuscan cigar ice cream – thanks to the intuition and technical preparation of Mirko and his staff, a group of visionary ice cream makers.
After a trip to Dubai Mirko Tognetti was fascinated by the city and the people who live there. His passion was to bring the authentic taste of gelato to this shining city. In 2024 Cremeria Opera arrived in Dubai to bring the gelato tradition to one of the most beautiful cities in the Middle East.
Mirko’s story is characterised by passion, determination and preparation. All of this, sprinkled with an abundant dose of dreamy inventiveness, to surprise every day by following unconventional paths. Mirko is an entrepreneur deeply in love with two typically Italian gastronomic favourites: pizza and ice cream.
Mirko decided to transform what was a simple passion into work, starting to attend trade fairs and acquiring all the information necessary to open his own business and opted for gelato.
So, he rented a camper and, for two years, set out in search of the “grandfathers of gelato”, the old wise men of the ice cream tradition. He offered himself free of charge in the best laboratories throughout the country, going from northern Italy to Sicily, where he met Santo Musumeci, “his” grandfather of gelato.
On this long journey Mirko learnt all the secrets that lie behind a correct balance, acquired solid technical skills and learnt to select the best ingredients for his combinations. Mirko poured the experience he gained into his project, proposing an unprecedented interpretation of gelato nationwide.
Today he regularly participates in prestigious cooking shows around the world and is a leading teacher at ALMA, the International School of Italian Cuisine based in Parma. He has also opened an Academy in Lucca where Mirko finds passing on his skills highly gratifying.